User blog:ZackAttackX/Ella Mental and the Passing of the Torch
(Cues Dust: An Elysian Tail OST – Twin Souls) After leaving Zomboi and rushing off, Zack finally reached the hill overlooking his home village. Once at the top, he looked down, and didn’t want to believe what his eyes revealed to him. What was once a small town brimming with flowers and nature had become a smoky wasteland, with only a few survivors remaining, trying to recover from the slaughter. Zack quickly rushed down towards the village, searching for his friend. “Ella? Ella, you here?” he called out, inadvertently breathing in smoke. The admin quickly covered his mouth, coughing heavily. It was at that moment when the figure resembling a Braixen stepped out from behind a building. The figure was none other than Ella Mental, Zack's best friend, almost like a sister, and she was pointing a sceptre in Zack’s direction. “Whoa, slow down! It’s me, Zack!” he protested. Ella’s eyes widened at the sight of Zack, and she quickly rushed over to him and the two embraced each other. “Thank god you’re okay!” she said, almost with a relieved sigh. Zack gently patted her on the head. “Of course I’m okay. Wish I could say the same about Sunset Village, though. Thought it was menna be lovely this time of year.” Zack said, letting Ella go. The vixen turned towards Zack. “I saw you, or, I saw your shadow. He began destroying the place, talking about a new world. What’s going on?” she asked. “I’ll tell you what’s going on. Peep thinks he’s being clever.” Zack spat. Ella was confused. “Wait, Peep? What did he do?” Zack then explained everything that he knew to Ella. About Peep’s absence and sudden reappearance. About the initial clone he fought in front of the headquarters. About the battle that he had with Peep, and later Zomboi. Then he mentioned Black, and what he aimed to do. Ella fell silent, slowly walking up to the field of flowers that she and Zack used to play in when they were younger. “And this is all it costed, huh?” she said, a tear forming in the corner of her eye. Zack looked back towards Ella, catching onto her sorrow. Then a voice echoed from the smoke. (Cues Pokemon Diamond and Pearl – Spear Pillar Remastered) “A small price to pay for my aspirations. I hope you understand.” Zack and Ella spun around to find the source of the voice, and sure enough BlackAttackX strolled out from the smoke, an evil grin plastered on his face. “YOU!” Ella yelled, immediately drawing her weapon, Destiny’s Eye, while Zack summoned an electrical sword to his hands. Black didn’t even flinch. “Very soon I will have the entire world under my thumb, and there is not a single soul that can stop me. So you can consider this your first and only warning. Submit now and I will allow you to live as pawns in my master plan. Rebel, and you will be eradicated.” (Cues Dust: An Elysian Tail OST – No Rest For The Wicked) “Ella?” Zack said. Ella looked over at Zack. “Remember that promise I made all those years ago? About how I’d keep the world safe from evil?” Ella nodded; she remembered very well. “Welp, time to make good on it!” he said, pointing his blade towards Black. Ella smiled and activated the Fire Orb on her sceptre, also readying herself for battle. “So be it.” Black snarled, summoning a dark battleaxe to his hands. HERE WE GO! First in the fray was Zack, cutting for his rival’s torso with his sword, which was met with a swift and stronger parry, catching Zack off guard. Ella kept her distance and cast several fireballs at Black, who kicked Zack away and twirled his battleaxe in a propeller-like motion to block them. He then flew at Ella, aiming for her neck for a decapitation, but Ella blocked with the handle of her sceptre. The two began to trade blows with each other before Ella was eventually pushed back by Black’s power. As she skidded back, she slammed Destiny’s Eye into the ground, summoning a massive pillar of fire at Black. The doppelganger retracted his battleaxe and pulled up a dark shield to fend off the attack. As the attack dispersed, Black then went to switch from shield to sword, but Zack returned to the fray, summoning an ice cannon and blasting Black’s back with several shots of ice. Black stumbled forward and Ella took this time to swap to the Wind Orb, casting a tornado at her opponent. Black stood firm and waited for the tornado to approach. He quickly shot out a wire from his glove which wrapped around Zack’s hands. "What’s this shi- YAAAAH!" Zack wailed as he was pulled into the tornado. Ella quickly called off the attack, and Zack summoned a fiery sword to his hands, quickly slicing through the wire and descending towards Black with a vertical swing. Black smirked and parried with a dark sword of his own. Zack leapfrogged over his nemesis and slashed at him multiple times, but Black held firm, holding off all of Zack’s attacks. He then ducked an overhead cleave and headbutted Zack, then proceeded to trip him with a sweep and punting him back towards Ella. The Braixen helped her ally up. “Not… going to plan…” Zack concluded. Ella switched her orb to the Earth Orb and summoned a stone golem to her side. Zack’s face lit up. “Oh my admin, it’s Jack-It Johnny!” he announced, as the golem charged towards Black. “F**K HIM UP, JOHNNY!” Zack and Ella cheered as he closed the distance. It swung with all its might… and Black merely caught its arm and summoned a dark cannon to his hand, disintegrating the golem with a powerful beam of energy, reducing it to nothing but dust. (Music pauses) “Child’s play.” Black sneered, charging up another beam of energy, this time aiming at Zack and Ella, who were still grieving over Johnny’s sacrifice. (Music resumes) “Rest in peace, Johnny. Your sacrifice will not go unav- OH CRAP!” Ella yelped, shoving Zack out of the way of the beam. She quickly equipped her Ice Orb and created an Ice Shield to protect herself and Zack from the follow-up, whilst also buying time for Zack to summon an icy battleaxe to his hands. Ella slowly began to walk through the beam, and Zack stayed a few paces behind her. Once she was close enough, Zack leaped into the air and swung down at Black, forcing him to call his attack off and dodge. Black quickly drew a dark sword and clashed blades with Zack, while also ducking and blocking incoming fireballs from Ella, who was a few paces away. Eventually, Zack caught Black out with a kick to his gut, then swung vertically down at him. Black grunted as the battleaxe cut across his cape and he staggered back. “Wait, how did that hurt him?” Ella asked, noticing Black’s pain. It took a few seconds to click, but eventually it did. “He must be fully organic. If he felt pain with a cut to what should’ve been clothing, maybe he’s entirely flesh and blood.” Zack realised. Black slowly began to stand back up, seething with rage. Ella looked at Zack. “So what’s the plan?” Ella asked, twirling Destiny’s Eye and planting it into the ground. Zack summoned an electric sword to his hands. “Hit as hard as you can. You know, the usual.” Ella rolled her eyes, but couldn’t hold back her grin. She then cast several bolts of electricity around Zack, who used his sword to control them and toss them at Black. Black created a dark forcefield around himself to repel the attacks, but Zack leapfrogged over him and slashed for his back. Quickly, Black redirected his shield to block Zack’s swing, holding the admin off. But this gave Ella a huge opening. She twirled her sceptre and threw it hilt first towards Black. The doppelganger saw this coming though and quickly bashed Zack away with his shield before swatting Destiny’s Eye back towards the approaching Ella. Ella grabbed her weapon and swung at Black, casting bolts of lightning at Black. The clone quickly ducked his head to the side to dodge and summoned a dark sword to counter Ella’s physical offense. The two duelled for a while, and Zack eventually made his way back into the mix as well, wielding his electric sword. Eventually, the numbers were too much for Black and he was forced to retreat to the safety of his forcefield, holding off the attacks. Zack and Ella continued wailing away. Black then suddenly started to build up a large amount of dark energy around him, and he began to glow a dark purple. “Uh… wanna explain this one to me, Zack?” Ella asked, the two slowly backing away. Black then opened his eyes, which were now an empty black. “Watch out!” Zack cried, tackling Ella to safety as Black released all his stored energy around him. Zack used his body to protect Ella from harm, but took a lot of damage because of it. Black then began to hover in the air. “Your end is now.” he declared, charging up a large beam of energy from his palms. “Embrace it.” “Ella, get out of here!” Zack instructed, standing his ground. Black then fired a giant purple beam towards the two, which Zack blocked with a forcefield of his own. The blast was insanely powerful and Zack struggled to remain on a vertical base. Black continued to pour on the energy, and eventually, the attack penetrated the forcefield and broke through Zack’s weapon. Zack screamed in pain as the beam engulfed him, sending him careening down the field. He toppled across the ground and slammed hard into the wall of his former home. “ZACK!” Ella cried out as Black summoned a dark javelin to his hand and hurled it at the incapacitated Zack. (Music stops) There was a sharp slice and a squelch of blood as the javelin found flesh. Not Zack’s however, but Ella’s. Ella had rushed in the way of the projectile just in time to save her friend. Zack’s eyes focused on the scene, and the sight of his best friend’s silhouette with a javelin through the stomach filled his vision. There was a moment of silence. Zack opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. The javelin dissipated and Ella collapsed to the ground. Black’s maniacal laughter then echoed throughout the area as he slipped into the shadows, escaping with his life and a sense of pride. (Cues To The Moon - For River) Zack forced himself over to Ella and cradled her in his arms. “Ella?” he whispered, trying to help her regain consciousness. Ella slowly twitched and opened her eyes, looking up at Zack. “I… guess… we’re even now, right?” she spluttered, forcing a smile to her face, which Zack wasn’t convinced by. “Are you alright?” he asked desperately. Ella coughed heavily. “What kind of… stupid question… is that?” she rasped. Zack quickly checked for Ella’s pulse. She was alive, but just barely hanging on. “Hang in there, Ella. I can help.” he said, desperately trying to keep pressure on the wound. He removed his cape and tied it around Ella’s wound like a bandage. “That’ll have to do for now. If I had my weapon I would’ve just frozen over it.” Zack explained. Ella gently grabbed Destiny’s Eye and presented it to Zack. “Why not… use this?” she coughed. “It can… use ice.” Zack took the sceptre and equipped the Ice Orb. “Hope to hell I still remember how this works.” he said. “Haven’t done this in a while.” He gently laid the top of the sceptre over Ella’s wound and froze over the bleeding with ice. Ella winced in pain, but her wound was covered and the bleeding had stopped. “Alright. That’ll work better.” Zack said, gently lifting Ella up and carrying her to safety. Zack set Ella down on her bed. “Now you need to rest up. Let me handle the rest.” Zack instructed. Ella tried to force herself out of bed, but cried out in pain when she sat up. “No, wai- GAH!” she cried, collapsing back down on her bed. Zack quickly rushed back to her side. “Ella, slow down. You’re in no position to go anywhere at the moment.” Ella grabbed Zack by the arm. “But he’s way too strong! We couldn’t beat him together; what hope do you have on your own?” she asked. “Well first of all, thanks for the faith. And secondly, if I don’t do something, he’ll find more towns and cities to destroy. The death toll is already sky high; we don’t have a moment to lose.” Zack said. “Yeah, but-” Ella began, but Zack stopped her by placing his finger over her lips. “I appreciate your concern, but I need to do this, and I need to do it now.” Knowing that Zack wasn’t going to change his mind, Ella slowly let go of his arm. Zack stood back up and then remembered. “Oh yeah, I kinda need to borrow your weapon. That okay?” he asked, hinting towards Destiny’s Eye, which was propped up against the bed. Ella sighed. “Fine, but I want it back in one piece.” she said. Zack smiled. “Cheers buddy, I knew I could count on you!” he smiled, grabbing Destiny's Eye. Zack then looked back towards Ella. “I’ll come back as soon as I’m done, okay?” he said. Ella nodded, and Zack made his way to the door. “Zack?” Ella called out. Zack turned back to face his friend. “Promise me you'll be careful, okay?” Zack just grinned. “I ain't making any promises!” DBX! Category:Blog posts